Rand Paul's filibuster brings back fond memories of my own

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Six hours later, Senator Moynihan joined me. After more than 15 hours, he broke it to me that the House had left session and it could not amend the bill. I would have kept going, but Moynihan persuaded me that I had done everything I could. Although I lost, I proved that I would fight for my principles and the people of New York.

Senator Paul’s fight was not too dissimilar. In late February, he raised objections to the Brennan nomination and to the Obama administration’s use of unmanned aerial drones on American soil. He threatened to filibuster the Brennan nomination, and delivered on that threat.

He opened by saying, “I will speak as long as it takes, until the alarm is sounded from coast to coast that our Constitution is important, that your rights to trial by jury are precious, that no American should be killed by a drone on American soil without first being charged with a crime, without first being found to be guilty by a court.”

Soon Paul was joined by many of his colleagues. I applaud him for standing up for his beliefs.

When American jobs are sent overseas, it’s a tough pill to swallow. The same can be said for local jobs being relocated out of state. In this area, the Northrop Grumman Corp. will be moving 850 jobs from Long Island to Florida, leaving just 550 workers on Long Island. In the 1980s, more than 25,000 Long Islanders were employed by the company.

It’s a sad reality that high tax rates have forced companies to flee Long Island.

I urge our New York senators to band together with other Northeast senators to ensure that the federal government doesn’t eliminate the deduction of state and local taxes. If they eliminate these deductions in high-cost states like New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, there will be a mass exodus of businesses and the middle class from New York and other Northeastern states.

Al D’Amato, a former U.S. senator from New York, is the founder of Park Strategies LLC, a public policy and business development firm. Comments about this column? ADAmato@liherald.com.